In everyday life, mobile devices are becoming increasingly important to us. We always have our smartphones with us and are always ready to quickly google something. It is now a basic requirement that websites also work properly on mobile devices.
This poses a major challenge for many webmasters: websites have to be designed for an ever-increasing number of devices and screen sizes. If they are not, many functions can no longer be used, the graphics slip, and the texts are illegible.
To counteract this, you should deal with the topic of responsive design. With this approach, you can optimize your website for a wide variety of screens and thus offer your website visitors the best possible user experience at all times.
In this article, you will find out how you can do this and what you need to consider.
Responsive design: what is it?
If your website is responsive, then it reacts to the device from which it is accessed. That means: If a user opens your website on a desktop PC, it will be displayed in such a way that it can be used ideally on this screen.
If another user wants to surf your website from their smartphone, it may look completely different. Because it has adapted to the smaller screen and now has a different layout. Getting this to work properly is a lot more important these days than many webmasters think.
Why is responsive design so important these days?
If one observes Internet users, a major change in their user behavior can be observed in recent years: they are increasingly switching to using mobile devices. While many people used to only be able to use the Internet via a computer, many people now have smartphones and tablets with them at all times. That’s why they are gradually outstripping desktop PCs.
A survey from July 2020 provides interesting key figures. Respondents were asked to comment on the devices they use to access the Internet. 82.6% of the participants stated that they use a mobile phone or smartphone for this purpose. 66.1% rely on notebooks and laptops. Just over half (51.8%) said they access the Internet with a PC. At least 32.7% use a tablet PC.
This survey shows that mobile devices in particular are very popular. At the same time, PCs are still widely used. For you, this means that you cannot just concentrate on one device. Theoretically, users can access your website from a wide variety of devices.
Apart from that, smartphones don’t all have the same screen size. They can also be held in portrait or landscape format. So you should make sure that your design is flexible and adapts to a wide variety of circumstances. Only then will you satisfy all website visitors with your layout.
In this context, you should also ask yourself what happens if your page is not displayed correctly. There are still many websites that are not mobile-friendly. This means that they are only designed for use on a PC.
If they are opened from a smartphone, the layout slips and some components can sometimes no longer be used. It often happens that the menu cannot be opened.
On the one hand, this arouses the frustration of the users. They get angry and may visit the competitor’s website. On the other hand, by migrating, they send a bad signal to Google – and that also affects your ranking. You will find out more about this in the next chapter.
When is a responsive design important for my website?
Your website is like a flagship for your company. Think of it like a shop window in the city: This is where customers get their first impression of you. And you would certainly never present a shop window dirty or untidy – you would take care of it and present yourself in the best light there. This is exactly how you should do it with your website.
That is why a responsive design is important for every website. Almost all target groups have mobile devices these days. Even the older generation now uses smartphones. In any case, you should make your website responsive.
In some cases, this is even particularly important. If you know that your target group often uses mobile devices, everything has to fit in the mobile version. The same applies to tech-savvy users. They will immediately take notice if your website is not mobile-friendly.
You can be sure that this trend will continue to increase in the coming years. If one observes the developments of the last few years, it can be clearly seen that mobile devices are becoming more important year after year. An end to these circumstances is not in sight.
Goals, techniques, and challenges of responsive design
Now you know why it is so important that your website is responsive. The question remains how this is to be implemented technically and how it also influences other aspects of a website. Because responsive design doesn’t just mean optimizing a website for different screen sizes. There’s a lot more to it than that.
How do responsive websites work?
A website with a responsive design has a fluid grid. This means that their design can adapt to the respective size. You probably know this: You open your website in a browser and change the width or height of the window. A responsive page responds and changes its design to accommodate the new size.
It can do this because the individual elements (text, images, videos, etc.) are flexible. Not only their size but also the place where they have located changes depending on the screen size. In addition, breakpoints are set in the CSS code. These are used to define resolutions at which the page layout changes. If you make your browser window smaller, certain elements may change their place. If a photo was previously on the right side of the page, it slides below the text in a smaller window, for example. In the breakpoint, you determine from which pixel size this should happen.
So that your website knows on which device type it is opened, it queries this via media queries. Specific properties of this device are then also transmitted, to which the layout can then be adapted.
Does this affect SEO?
Whether a website has a responsive design or not definitely affects search engine optimization. There are several reasons for this. We have already addressed one of them above the user experience.
If a user opens your website and clicks through various articles and submenus, this is a very good sign for Google. Visitors stay on your site for a long time – it seems relevant and helpful. Google has different ranking factors for placement in search results. The dwell time is one of them.
Because Google assumes that websites with a long dwell time deliver added value. Therefore, they will then be placed better in the search results. However, users only stay on the site for a long if it works properly. If this is not the case, they leave after just a few seconds. This sends a bad signal to Google.
Google then assumes that the website does not provide any added value, is uncomfortable, or does not present the promised content. And of course, such pages should not be presented to users in the search results.
You avoid this problem with a responsive design. Because if your website is displayed correctly on all devices, this significantly reduces the bounce rate. Of course, other factors such as content or page speed also influence this rate – but it is a basic requirement that users can use your site properly on all devices.
In 2015, Google published a kind of guide for website operators. The Google Quality Rater Guidelines make it clear how important mobile-friendly websites are. Because this detailed guide describes, among other things, which factors Google uses to recognize that a website can also be easily operated on mobile devices.
These include, for example, that the texts are easy to read even on small screens. In addition, links should be easy to click on with your finger. These are just two factors out of a whole range of other indicators.
Does the Mobile First setting really make sense?
When it comes to responsive design, the term “mobile first” keeps popping up. This means that a website is first developed for mobile devices and then for PCs. In principle, this reasoning is not wrong. Think back to the stats from the first chapter: users primarily access the internet through mobile devices.
However, it is no longer recommended to create multiple versions of a website. You may have noticed that many websites on smartphones have the URL http://m.webseite.de.
The “m” indicates that you are currently using the mobile version of the website. On the PC you would just use a different version. What at first glance seems like a very good idea has several disadvantages. Because you have to maintain both websites. This means that every change or addition must be carried out twice. This takes time and is also error-prone.
In addition, this system is not exactly future-oriented. Because if a new format were to be added at some point, you would have to build a new website again. As a result, you would have an even greater effort that would cost you even more time.
This is also the case if you not only look after one website but several at the same time. So it makes your work a lot easier if you use a responsive design right away. The costs for this are usually a bit higher, but you save a lot of time and work.
Tools: how to check if your website is really responsive
Before you launch your responsive website, you should take a close look at it. Because errors are only too happy to creep into the programming and affect how your website is displayed.
There are some tools you can use to check this. Of course, you can also access your website yourself on different devices, but you will hardly be able to test it on all possible screen sizes. That’s why we are now introducing you to three tools that you can use to check the responsive design of your website.
Responsively
Responsively is an open-source tool, which means the source code is publicly available. It can thus be examined by anyone for unsafe spots. You can use the tool on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
With Responsively, your website will be shown to you on screens of different sizes. Really practical: This happens simultaneously. So you see several variants of your website at a glance and can compare them with each other. Maybe you like a certain layout better and you discover a small mistake.
You can also use the Elements Inspector for this. With this you can examine individual elements with just one click – this also applies to the different screens. Responsively provides you with 30 sizes. However, you can expand this with individual device dimensions if you want to be on the safe side.
The integrated screenshot function and hot reloading are also really practical – only the changed component is reloaded and not the entire page. You can easily integrate Responsively into your browser. It is available for Firefox, Chrome, and Edge and can be easily downloaded from the website. It’s free.
Sizzy
Sizzy also gives you a wide range of options. The tool offers you different viewport sizes – so you can examine your website in different sizes. Also included are practical screenshot functions and the Universal Inspect Element. With this, you examine the individual screen sizes at the same time. This saves time and gives you a good overview.
Unlike Responsively, Sizzy is paid. The costs depend on the number of licenses. One license costs $5 per month, and 10 licenses cost $39 per month. Before that, you have a 14-day trial period. You can use Sizzy on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Polypane
Polypane also offers you different viewport sizes – from mobile screens to large monitors. You can view them side by side and see all versions of your website at a glance. The included Universal Inspect Mode will also help you with this.
Conveniently, Polypane also offers you the option of reading the breakpoints in your CSS and displaying the viewports for them. Activate the live CSS and access the CSS of all open screen sizes simultaneously. Changes are thus implemented very easily.
You can use Polypane on Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can test the tool for 14 days free of charge. After that, the costs depend on the number of users. One user costs €9 per month and can use Polypane on three devices at the same time. 10 users cost €39 – each user can then also use the tool on three devices.
Conclusion: Responsive design is an absolute must for your website
No matter what industry you work in or who your target group is: Your website must be responsive. If you want to keep your users and Google happy, there is no way around it. Because you simply have to expect that your website will be accessed from all possible devices. With a responsive design, you are well prepared and will do justice to all screen sizes.